Longtime retail leader and nationally recognized marketing icon Donna Tweeten will retire from Hy-Vee, Inc., effective Jan. 24, 2025.
In 2022, Tweeten became the first woman in Hy-Vee history to serve as the company’s president.
Tweeten has guided Hy-Vee’s brand and image strategy and helped double the Iowa-based grocery chain’s size during her tenure.
Under her leadership, the company also became the first retailer to engage in a name, image, and likeness (NIL) contract with basketball star Caitlin Clark and sign partnerships with Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and U.S. Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East.
“No one has shaped the Hy-Vee brand with such skill, precision, and creativity more than Donna Tweeten,” said Jeremy Gosch, Hy-Vee’s chairman and CEO. “Throughout her career, Donna has served as an innovator, trailblazer, and creative thinker in nearly every aspect of the company’s operations. Undoubtedly, her influence will be felt across Hy-Vee for decades to come.”
Related Article: Hy-Vee Acquires a 22-Grocery Store Chain in Indiana
Tweeten came to the supermarket chain with an extensive background in advertising, working for firms such as Davis Harrison Dion–Chicago and Anderson Communications and serving as the president and chief creative officer of The Meyocks Group, Hy-Vee’s agency of record.
Tweeten joined Hy-Vee in 2006 as assistant vice president of communications and was promoted to assistant vice president of marketing in 2009. In 2011, she was selected as vice president of brand image. Tweeten was promoted to vice president of marketing/communications in 2013, and in 2014, she was named senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
In 2016, she was promoted to executive vice president and elected to Hy-Vee’s board of directors. Later that year, she became executive vice president, chief marketing officer/chief customer officer. In 2020, she was also named chief of staff. In 2022, Tweeten transitioned to executive vice president, chief of staff, and chief merchandising officer and then was promoted to executive vice president, chief of staff, and chief marketing officer.
In late 2022, Tweeten was promoted to her current role as president of Hy-Vee.
Industry Recognition
Tweeten has been nationally recognized for her influence in the advertising and sports marketing industries. ADWEEK named her a 2024 Champion of Change and awarded her Ad Age’s Leading Women Forward award. This year, she also received FMI’s prestigious Esther Peterson Award for Consumer Service.
Tweeten has received a number of other honors throughout her career, including being named one of Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Grocery in 2011, 2013, and 2019 and receiving the publication’s highest honor, the Top Women in Grocery Trailblazer award, in 2023.
In 2016, she received several awards, including Shopper Marketing magazine’s Women of Excellence, Marketer of the Year by Supermarket News for her innovation and success throughout the grocery industry, and People Who Made a Difference by Mass Market Retailers for combining Hy-Vee’s fundamentals and guiding principles with modern marketing efforts and creativity to enhance the customer experience. In 2022, Tweeten received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) and Store Brands magazine.
Tweeten received her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Drake University and obtained certification from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s Executive Leadership program. After Retiring from Hy-Vee, Tweeten plans to consult and continue to mentor others.